The attack targeted aerospace and defence firm TUSAS while thousands of employees were on site.
One of the main drivers of Turkey’s defence industry became the target of a deadly attack on Wednesday afternoon.
The assault on state-run Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAS) has killed at least five and injured 22. It came a day after an unprecedented statement from a Turkish nationalist leader about the possibility of a renewed peace process with the country’s outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
The group – considered a “terrorist” group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union – has been fighting a 40-year-long rebellion against the Turkish state. The timing of Wednesday’s attack has led observers to believe the PKK may be sending a message that they are not ready to lay down arms.
Here is what to know about the incident and who might be involved.
Close to 4pm (13:00 GMT) on Wednesday, gunshots and explosions were reported at the headquarters of state-run TUSAS.
Footage from the scene broadcast by local media initially showed huge clouds of smoke and a large fire, while emergency services rushed to the site.
Turkey’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya confirmed the attack in a post on X. “A terrorist attack was carried out against the Turkish Aerospace Industries Ankara Kahramankazan facilities,” he wrote.
Security footage shows three people in a yellow cab arrive at one of the entrances of the compound. One of the attackers infiltrates the building while firing shots. media’s Sinem Koseoglu, reporting from Ankara, said a blast took place next to a security booth and may have injured security personnel.
The attack took place at the headquarters of TUSAS in Kahramankazan.
Kahramankazan an area to the north of Turkey’s capital, Ankara.
Security camera images from the incident, aired on television, showed a man in plainclothes carrying a backpack and holding an assault rifle, as well as a woman who was also carrying an assault rifle. Yerlikaya, the Turkish interior minister, confirmed that one of the assailants was a woman.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday night, Turkish National Defence Minister Yasar Guler alleged the PKK had carried out the attack. No group has claimed responsibility so far.
What happened in Turkey and when?
Turkey’s extreme-left Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) is also on the radar, according to Koseoglu.
A peace process between Turkey and the PKK broke down in 2015, and the group and its affiliates carried out a number of attacks in the years that followed, as the Turkish military and security forces conducted operations against the PKK in southeast Turkey, as well as in Iraq and Syria.
But Wednesday’s assault may be a message that the PKK is reluctant to put down arms and normalise ties with the government, according to experts.
“This is more of a message that the Turkish defence industry can be targeted and harmed”, said Omer Ozkizilcik, non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Middle East Programs. “Turkish drones are a major game changer in the Turkish counterterrorism effort. Therefore, targeting it has a huge symbolic meaning.”
Yerlikaya said that “two terrorists were neutralised” in a post on X on Wednesday.
Special forces have been deployed to the area while drones have been scouring the premises.
In the hours after the attack, people lined up outside the site to get more information about relatives working inside. Some 7,500 employees were on-site during the attack, according to Koseoglu.
All security units in the country are on alert and Turkey’s chief public prosecutor office has launched a judicial investigation into the attack.
Founded in 1973, TUSAS developed the country’s first indigenous fighter jet, Kaan, as well as a range of drones, satellites, and helicopters for both civilian and military purposes.
Additionally, the Turkish intelligence and military have been conducting cross-border operations targeting PKK members in northern Syria and Iraq with TUSAS-produced drones, according to media’s Koseoglu.
The company is owned jointly by the Turkish Armed Forces Foundation and the government and employs roughly 15,000 people.
An international defence, aviation and space industry expo was also taking place in Istanbul, which was attended this week by Ukraine’s top diplomat and Turkish military officials. Just hours before the attack, Yerlikaya posted images from his visit to the trade fair.
Erdogan, who is currently attending the BRICS conference in the Russian city of Kazan, called the incident a “heinous terrorist attack”.
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